The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy of books and films are a phenomenon in Europe, though their author, Stieg Larsson, didn’t live to see his success. David Gritten goes to Stockholm to discover the story behind the stories, answer the questions surrounding the author’s untimely death and meet the actress who plays the Girl.

by David Gritten

It’s one of the most intriguing literary stories in living memory: an obscure 50-year-old author, who had never previously written fiction, produces a trilogy of thrillers. But before they reach the bookshops, he dies of a heart attack – and then becomes a posthumous publishing sensation.

This, in a nutshell, is the story of Sweden’s Stieg Larsson, whose Millennium Trilogy, comprising The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest, has now sold 27 million copies worldwide – a figure that is rising fast.

All three books have been adapted for film, and between them have accounted for half the box office takings in Swedish cinemas this past year. The film of the first book has already been a major hit across Europe, and Hollywood will remake an English-language version of it, directed by Steven Zaillian, the garlanded screenwriter of Schindler’s List.

This is remarkable enough, but ever since Larsson’s untimely death in 2004 – a few months before the publication of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – burning questions about him and his authorship of the books have raged incessantly: who should inherit his fortune? Did he really write the books? Was his death really due to natural causes? The debates never seem to cease.

Beyond argument is the fact that Larsson’s crime thrillers have captured the imagination of the world’s readers. This is largely because he created two memorable characters who join forces to become a chalk-and-cheese detective team….

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